Starting mechanism for internal-combustion engines



G. J. SPOHRER.

STARTING MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, |915.

1,376,838, Patented May 3, 1921.

e? /f/a 7 6 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GREGORY J. SPOHRER, 0F EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THEMOTOR- COMPRESSOR COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F DELAWARE. I

STARTING MECHANISM FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES:

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3,` 1921.

Application led September 21, 1918. Serial No. 255,063.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, GREGORY J. SPOHRER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residin at East Orange,in the county of Essex, tate of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starting Mechanism for Internal- Combustion Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the' art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mechanism for starting internal combustion engines manually, and is directed to the provision of a manual starting mechanism 0f an improved form which is. simple in construction, which may be manufactured at low cost, and with which injury to the operator resulting from a back kick of the engine is efectually guarded against. A manual starting mechanism for an internal combustion engine should -be normally disconnected from the engine .A shaft, should be capable of ready connection tothe engine shaft, should be disconnected from the engine shaft automatically when the engine starts to operate under its own power, and should be provided with devices for effecting substantially instant release of the starting mechanism from the engineshaft in event o'f a back-kick of the shaft which otherwise might cause injury to the operator. A mechanism constructed in accordance with this invention fulls all of the foregoing requirements `and is of such simple construction that it is reliable in operation, of little weight, may be manufactured at low cost, and is of special utility 1n connection with internal combustion engines for propelling aircraft. The feature of the invention of primar importance 1s the provision of a pawl an ratchet mechanism for connecting the hand crank to a starting shaft and a multiplicity of releasing devices arranged at intervals about the axis of the starting shaft, each of which is capable `of 'effecting disconnection of the hand crank from the starting shaft in event of a backward movement of the hand crank caused by a back-re of the engine.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is, illustrated in the accompanying.

trated in the form in which it may be em-` bodied for use on aeroplanes, the sides of the body of an aeroplane being indicated at 5. The shaft of the engine 4 is shown at 6, the end of the shaft extending backwardly through the casing of the engine. This end of the shaft 6 is provided with a clutch member 7 of any suitable construction. Inl

axial alinement with the shaft 6 is a short shaft 8 mounted for rotation in a bearing 9. The end of the shaft 8 is provided with one or more spiral threads 10 and on this end of the shaft is a clutchl member 11 the inner surface of which is provided with one orv more spiral grooves in which the threads 10 are received, so that relative rotation of the shaft 8 and member 11 causes axial movement of the clutch member 11 into and out of engagement with the clutch member 7. The bearing 9 for the shaft 8 is provided with -a tubular extension 12 which telescopes, with A a tubular extension 13 mounted upon the crank case of the engine 4. On the interior of the sleeve 13 is a leaf sprin 14,the free end of which is in frictiona engagement with the surface of the clutch member 11, the purpose of this spring to the rotation of the clutch ymember 11 so as to insure that the clutch member willA not.

drawings in which Figure l is a horizontal i rotate with shaft 8 whenl such rotation is not desired.

-At the opposite end of the shaft 8 is a bevel gear 15 which is in mesh with a bevel pinion 16 fixed upon a shaft 17 which isshown as extending transversely of the body of the aeroplane and mounted for rotation in bearings 18 and 19 which are'secured to sides 5 of the body.

At ,one end, the shaft 17 passes' through the bearing 19 and vhas a ratchet wheel 20 keyed to it, the ratchet wheel being shown in Fig. 2 as provided with two ratchet teeth. Loose on the end of the shaft 17 is a hand crank 21 held in position by a collar 22,

This hand crank has a disk 23 secured to it and 2 pawls 24 are pivotally mounted upon the face of the disk 23 in position to coact with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 20, each paw] 24 being provided with a spring 24 for pressing it yieldingly toward the teeth of the ratchet.

The portion of the bearing 19 on the outer side of the side plate 5 is in the form of a disk and this disk has a multiplicity of notches or slots cut in its periphery at equal distances apart. As shown in Fig. 3, there are eight of these slots. In each of these slots is a releasing device for effecting the release of a pawl 24 from engagement with a tooth of ratchet wheel 20. Each of these releasing devices 25 is in the form of a block of metal fitting snugly within its slot and projecting at one end beyond the face of the disk. Preferably each of the releasing devices is pivotally mounted at one end as shown at 26. Means are provided for holding the several releasing devices 25 yieldingly in the positions in which they are shown in Figs. 1 and 3. This means preferably consists of a spiral spring in the form of a ring 27 lying in a circumferential groove in the disk portion of the bearing member 19, this groove being of such depth that the spring lies in contact with the outer faces of the several releasing devices 25.

The portion of each of the releasing devices 25 extending beyond the face of the disk on the bearing member 19 is in the form of a cam as shown at 28 in Fig. 3, its opposite faces being inclined at an angle of substantially 45o to a radius passing through the cam. Each of the pawls 24 is provided with a projection 29 on one side thereof which is also in the form of a cam having sides inclined to a radius and which is adapted to rotate as the handle 21 is rotated in a plane transverse to the shaft 17 which includes the cams 28 of the releasing devices.

In order to start the engine, the operator grasps the handle 21 and turns it, thereby rotating the shaft 17 and the shaft 8 to which it is connected by the bevel gears 15 and 16. The rotation of shaft 17 is effected by the engagement of the pawls 24 with teeth on the ratchet 20, the pawls being moved into engagement with the ratchet by the springs 24 and the ratchet being keyed to the shaft 17. When the shaft 8 is so rotated it turns relatively to the clutch member 11 as rotation of the latter is resisted by the pressure of the spring 14. Therefore, the clutch member 11 is moved axially upon the shaft 8 until it isv carried into engagement with the clutch member 7 on the engine shaft 6. Thereafter the engine shaft is rotated with the shaft 8 to start the engine. As soon as the engine starts to operate under its own power, the rotation of the lVhen the handle 21, disk 23 and pawls 24y are so rotated to start the engine, the forward sides of the outer ends of the cam projections 29 on the pawls engage in succession the rearward sides of the inner ends of the cam projections 28 on the releasing devices 25. The free ends of the releasing devices 25 are thus raisedslightly against the tension of their spring 27 one after another and serve to reinforce the holding-on action of the springs 24', maintaining pawls 24 in connecting position. In event of a back-fire of theengine causing a backward rotational movement of the shaft 17, ratchet 20, pawls 24 and handle 21, the rearward sides of the outer portions of the projections 29 on the pawls 24 engage the forward sides of the inner ends of the projections 28 on the lreleasing devices 25 and instead of the releasing devices being raised against the tension of their sprin by the cam projections 29 on the pawls, t e cam projections 29 and the pawls are turned about their pivots against the tension of their springs 24 by the cam projections 28 on the releasing devices 25 to lift the teeth of the pawls out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet 20. This effects substantially instant disconnection of the handle 21 from the shaft 17.

It will be noted that there are eight of the releasing devices located equidistant about the axis of shaft 17 and that any pair of the releasin devices may serve to lift the pawls and t us disconnect the handle from the engine. Therefore, backward rotation of the handle occasioned by a back-fire of the engine may extend through not more than one-eighth of a revolution of 4 the handle. As many of the releasing devices may be provided as desired so as to reduce to any desired amount the possible backward movement of the handle occasioned by a back-fire of the engine beforethe handle is released from its connection to the engine shaft.

Particular attention is directed to the simplicity of the construction of the parts provided for effecting the release of the handle in the case of a back-fire. The additional parts provided for this purpose consist merely of a disk with slots in its periphery releasing devices located in these slots, a single spring for positioning all of the releasing devices, and cam projections on the pawls coacting with cams formed on the ends of the releasing devices. anism may, therefore, be constructed at low The mech-` cost and it is of such simplicity as to minimize the danger of faultyoperation and breakage or displacement of essential parts.

I claim:

1. Mechanism for starting internal combustion engines comprising a starting member, a ratchet and pawl for connecting the starting member to the engine shaft, and a plurality of releasing devices located about the axis of the ratchet and pawl mechanism and successively moved by the different `pawls and each of them adapted t0 coact 'with the ratchet and pawl mechanism to disconnect the pawl from the ratchet on backward movement of the starting member.

2. Mechanism for starting internal combustion engines comprising the combination of a starting member, a paWl and ratchet mechanism for connecting the starting member to the engine shaft, a cam on the pawl and a multiplicity of releasing devices located about the axis of the ratchet and each provided with a cam for coaction with the cam on the pawl, the releasing devices being adapted to be moved successively by the pawl when the starting member is rotated in one direction and the pawl being adapted to be moved by any one of the releasing devices when the starting member is rotated in the opposite direction.

3. Mechanism for starting internal combustion engines comprising the combination of a starting member, a pawl and ratchet for connecting the starting member to the engine shaft, ai pluralityv of releasing devices located about the axis of the pawl, a single spring for holding all of the releasing devices yieldingly in position, and coacting cam surfaces on the pawl and the releasing devices whereby the releasing devices are moved successively by the pawl against -the tension of their spring when the starting member is rotated in one direction and the pawl is moved by any oneof the releasing devices'when the starting member is rotated in the other direction.

I 4. Mechanism for starting internal combustion engines comprising the combination of a starting member, a pawl and ratchet for connecting it to the engine shaft, a disk adjacent to the pawl having a plurality .of slots in its periphery arranged about the axis of the ratchet, a releasing device in each of the slots in the disk, a cam on the end of each releasing device projecting beyond the face of the disk, means for'yieldingly positioning the releasing devices, and a cam on the pawl coacting with the cams onthe releasing devices to effect movement of the releasing devices vsuccessivel when the starting member turns in one direction and to cause the pawl to be moved by one of the releasing devices out of coaction with the ratchet when the starting member is 5. Mechanism for starting internal combustion engines, comprising the combination of an engine shaft, a clutch member thereon, a starting shaft in alinement with the engine shaft, a clutch member movable axia'lly upon the starting shaft and connected thereto by a spiral thread, a handle for actuating the starting shaft connected thereto by a ratchet and pawl mechanism, and a multiplicity of releasingdevices arranged about the axis of the ratchet and adapted to be moved successively by the pawl when the handle is turned in one direction and any one of them adapted to move the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet when the handle is moved in the opposite direction.

6. Mechanism for starting'internal cornbustion engines comprising the combination of an engine shaft, a clutch member thereon, a starting shaft, a clutch member movable axially thereon and connected thereto by spiral threads, a handle, a pawl and ratchet for connecting the handle to the starting shaft, a disk adjacent to the pawl provided with a plurality of slots about the axis of the disk, a releasing device located in each of said slots, means for yieldingly positioning the releasing devices, a cam on each releasing device, and a cam on the pawl movable in the path of the cams on the releasing devices, the releasing devices being adapted to be moved bythe cam on the pawl against the tension of said yielding positioning means when the handle is rotated in one direction and the pawl being adapted to be moved out of engagement with the ratchet by any one of the releasing devices when the handle lis rotated in the o osite direction. 7. echanism for starting internal combustion engines comprising the combination of an engine shaft, startin shafting, a clutch member thereon mova le longitudinally thereof, a clutch member on the engine shaft normally driven by the first clutch member and driving said first clutch member upon reverse movement of said second clutch member, disconnectible cranking means for said starting shafting and means interposed between the same and the starting shafting displaced during driving of the starting action but rigidl positioned u on the reverse movement of t e driving action and thereby disconnecting the cranking means from the startin sha ting.

8. echanism for starting internal comlbustion engines comprising the combination of an engine shaft, starting shafting, means on one end of the startings'haftin for normally joining the en lne shaft an starting shafting, whlch is s ifted on the 'starting shafting by the engine shaft upon movement thereof, crankingv means, means at another end of the starting shafting for connecting the cranking means and the startin shafting, and means for disconnecting At e connecting means, said disconnecting means reinforcing the connecting means during startiny action.

9. Machanism for starting internal combustion engines comprising the combination of a startlng shafting, cranking means, a connecting member between said starting shafting and said cranking means, and a releasing device interposed in the path of said connectin member at all times and normally de ected thereby, and in turn in case of back-firing deflecting the connecting member, and automatically disconnecting the cranking means from the shafting upon reverse movement of the starting shafting.

- 10. Mechanism for startin internal combustion engines comprising t e combination of an engine shaft, a starting shaft, a cranking means, a plurality of connecting means interposed between the cranking means and incense the starting-shaft, and releasing means passing over said connecting means during cranking, and passed under sald connectmg means upon reverse movement of the starting shaft.

1l. Mechanism for startin internal combnstion engines comprising t e combination.

leasing devices being moved by the connecting members during the cranking action,-

and moving the connecting members out of connecting position upon a re-versey movement of ther starting and engine shafts.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

vcannoni? J. sPoHRER. 

